Putting all discussion of what this could do to GAIM aside, I'm not sure if downhillbattle.org really considered if this could be done. I run DoorManBot on AIM, so I've run into many problems which will prevent them from being able to do this.
The issue is that on a network such as AIM, clients talk only to the AIM servers, not to each other, leaving no room for behind-the-protocol interactions between clients.
This means that the plug-in would need to be able to identify buddies also using the plug-in through something such as a tag in the user's profile; not the cleanest thing to do, though still doable.
Now comes the biggest problem. How will the plug-in communicate with others to do searches? Inter-client communications can only be done via the basic IMs that are sent between users. This would mean a new IM popping up every time one of your buddies decides to search for a song. Even if the search was hidden inside invisible tags, the IM would still need to present itself. This alone, I believe, would drive off any potential users.
Unfortunately, MSN and Yahoo! are just as bad as AIM in this respect, leaving any potential plug-in to work only with a different protocol. But with that, the user base is lost, destroying the purpose of the plug-in in the first place. A great idea, but sadly without hope.
AOL even uses some controls beyond the ones most people see.
I run DoorManBot, which relays messages to offline users, making it look like a SPIMer sometimes, so I've run into these. For one, AOL restricts the number of messages you can send out without getting responses (links in your messages make that happen more quickly).
Buddy lists, which are commonly used for SPIMers to keep track of targets signing on, are limitted in the number of buddies you can add and remove in a certain period of time.
Best of all, these two "invisible" restrictions don't give an error message, so the SPIMer thinks everything is working fine.
And yet, even with all this, there are still problems.
I think this post was saying that there will be no need for any other clients, but the native AIM, Yahoo, and MSN clients will be able to connect to this hub, which will take care of the interconnection.
It would seem that through this initiative, if all 3 platforms were merged, they would each get the features of the others. For example, AIM users under this project would be able to finally send offline messages! That would definately be a boost in security vs. having offline messages sent through services like DoorManBot, which while it works wonderfully, does not support encryption.
Then again, would Microsoft really put offline messaging for AIM into their "hub", or would it just get transfered from AIM to Yahoo, wait for the hub to see the AIM user sign on, then tell Yahoo to send it back, where it would send it to the AIM user? I don't know, that seems pretty messy, and considering Microsoft, I doubt this project will result in much more than a basic connection between the three, leaving AIM users without those much-needed improvements
Two responses to this.
1)Yahoo's:
If we were to release their protocol specs, then it would be possible for spammers to create programs to connect to IM and send spam to our users automatically. There were instances of this already, which is why we changed our protocol, so that those spammers can no longer disrupt our users.
2)The Truth:
AOL has done this before with their IM, and it just doesn't work. There are enough people out there working on GAIM, Trillian, and other projects, that within a few days, the protocol changes are cracked, and the projects are able to connect again. The only true way to deal with spam is not to keep them from connecting, but to set rules which apply to all users. For example, if a user is sending many messages out with links in them, but getting no replies, chances are they're spamming. By using methods like this, Yahoo! could ensure an end to spam, without any disruption to its users.
If you really read into their site, it isn't saying it will "work on anything, including hotmail, aol, yahoo!, etc" but that if you use those, it will work. In other words, it will only work if you're using a web-based client, which needless to say makes perfect sense considering the methods they're using, and the failures under Pine, etc.
Yep, or Yahoo, too, they all have offline messaging, AIM is the exception, which is a shame considering how simple/popular it is, but that's what DoorManBot's there for.
About using an IM protocol...
A friend of mine recently installed a computer in his car for the purpose of playing his MP3's off of it. I wrote up a small program that reports whenever it is connected to the internet with a new (external) IP. To do this, it logs into AIM using some custom code (though Perl:AIM will work just fine). The one downside to using AIM is the reliance on this friend being signed on at the time, so I have the message, containing the external and internal IPs routed through DoorManBot (Check the site out or the SN DoorManBot3 if you haven't used it) to ensure that they are notified. The program stays connected to AIM, creating a tunnel through any possible firewalls that may be in the way, and will execute commands coming from any of a set of Screen Names (keyed to his ScreenNames, as opposed to signing each message going out, so he can execute commands as if he were at the command prompt).
I hope this shows how AIM can be useful for creating a backup back-door
Slashdot Mirror
Putting all discussion of what this could do to GAIM aside, I'm not sure if downhillbattle.org really considered if this could be done. I run DoorManBot on AIM, so I've run into many problems which will prevent them from being able to do this.
The issue is that on a network such as AIM, clients talk only to the AIM servers, not to each other, leaving no room for behind-the-protocol interactions between clients.
This means that the plug-in would need to be able to identify buddies also using the plug-in through something such as a tag in the user's profile; not the cleanest thing to do, though still doable.
Now comes the biggest problem. How will the plug-in communicate with others to do searches? Inter-client communications can only be done via the basic IMs that are sent between users. This would mean a new IM popping up every time one of your buddies decides to search for a song. Even if the search was hidden inside invisible tags, the IM would still need to present itself. This alone, I believe, would drive off any potential users.
Unfortunately, MSN and Yahoo! are just as bad as AIM in this respect, leaving any potential plug-in to work only with a different protocol. But with that, the user base is lost, destroying the purpose of the plug-in in the first place. A great idea, but sadly without hope.
AOL even uses some controls beyond the ones most people see.
I run DoorManBot, which relays messages to offline users, making it look like a SPIMer sometimes, so I've run into these.
For one, AOL restricts the number of messages you can send out without getting responses (links in your messages make that happen more quickly).
Buddy lists, which are commonly used for SPIMers to keep track of targets signing on, are limitted in the number of buddies you can add and remove in a certain period of time.
Best of all, these two "invisible" restrictions don't give an error message, so the SPIMer thinks everything is working fine.
And yet, even with all this, there are still problems.
I think this post was saying that there will be no need for any other clients, but the native AIM, Yahoo, and MSN clients will be able to connect to this hub, which will take care of the interconnection.
It would seem that through this initiative, if all 3 platforms were merged, they would each get the features of the others. For example, AIM users under this project would be able to finally send offline messages! That would definately be a boost in security vs. having offline messages sent through services like DoorManBot, which while it works wonderfully, does not support encryption.
Then again, would Microsoft really put offline messaging for AIM into their "hub", or would it just get transfered from AIM to Yahoo, wait for the hub to see the AIM user sign on, then tell Yahoo to send it back, where it would send it to the AIM user? I don't know, that seems pretty messy, and considering Microsoft, I doubt this project will result in much more than a basic connection between the three, leaving AIM users without those much-needed improvements
Two responses to this. 1)Yahoo's: If we were to release their protocol specs, then it would be possible for spammers to create programs to connect to IM and send spam to our users automatically. There were instances of this already, which is why we changed our protocol, so that those spammers can no longer disrupt our users. 2)The Truth: AOL has done this before with their IM, and it just doesn't work. There are enough people out there working on GAIM, Trillian, and other projects, that within a few days, the protocol changes are cracked, and the projects are able to connect again. The only true way to deal with spam is not to keep them from connecting, but to set rules which apply to all users. For example, if a user is sending many messages out with links in them, but getting no replies, chances are they're spamming. By using methods like this, Yahoo! could ensure an end to spam, without any disruption to its users.
I'm glad to see sports clubs in there, cameraphones were obviously banned so we could get better quality through these things.
If you really read into their site, it isn't saying it will "work on anything, including hotmail, aol, yahoo!, etc" but that if you use those, it will work. In other words, it will only work if you're using a web-based client, which needless to say makes perfect sense considering the methods they're using, and the failures under Pine, etc.
Yep, or Yahoo, too, they all have offline messaging, AIM is the exception, which is a shame considering how simple/popular it is, but that's what DoorManBot's there for.
About using an IM protocol... A friend of mine recently installed a computer in his car for the purpose of playing his MP3's off of it. I wrote up a small program that reports whenever it is connected to the internet with a new (external) IP. To do this, it logs into AIM using some custom code (though Perl:AIM will work just fine). The one downside to using AIM is the reliance on this friend being signed on at the time, so I have the message, containing the external and internal IPs routed through DoorManBot (Check the site out or the SN DoorManBot3 if you haven't used it) to ensure that they are notified. The program stays connected to AIM, creating a tunnel through any possible firewalls that may be in the way, and will execute commands coming from any of a set of Screen Names (keyed to his ScreenNames, as opposed to signing each message going out, so he can execute commands as if he were at the command prompt). I hope this shows how AIM can be useful for creating a backup back-door
As for away messaging, you can get that functionality by using an offline message service on AIM such as DoorManBot
DeadAIM only takes out the ads built into AIM, it doesn't do a thing about porn bots.